Asylum Seeker Might Not Be Exaggerating, Court Rules

CHICAGO (CN) – The Seventh Circuit ruled that the Board of Immigration Appeals erroneously based its denial of an asylum petition on the assumption that the petitioner had exaggerated his fear of returning to Liberia.
Dominic Moab claimed he left the country because of civil war and the fear of being killed in a family land dispute. He also claimed he feared being persecuted as a homosexual. The circuit ruled that the BIA should not have dismissed Moab’s petition simply because the alleged harm increased as his case progressed. “While Moab failed to mention that he feared to return to Liberia due to his homosexuality at his airport and credible fear interviews, his later testimony merely included mention of additional harms, rather than any sort of increased egregiousness in the description of the harms themselves,” Judge Woods wrote. Reversed and remanded. See ruling in Moab v. Gonzales.